Assessing Liverpool's chances of signing Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen

To evaluate that it’s necessary to have a look at the different perspectives of the involved clubs and the player.

The situation

Leverkusen signed Can last season for €5 million. However, the player has a release clause in his contract to leave this summer for €12 million. This means that only the player himself decides where he will play next season. His domestic club Bayern reserve the right to buy Can back in 2015 for a defined sum of €5 million. If they don’t do so, they will lose him for good.

Bayer Leverkusen

If they sell Can now, they will make €7 million with him and could invest that money in new players. If he decides to stay, then they will probably have to sell him after the season for the buying price of €5 million next summer, but will have a versatile quality player who would definitely be an asset for their Champions League ambitions. No matter what Can decides, Leverkusen could probably live quite well with any result.

Bayern Munich

Guardiola agreed to let Can go on loan before last season, so obviously he wasn’t part of his plans. If this changes in one year when Bayern can buy Can back, it depends on what new players the Spanish coach wants to get until then and whether Toni Kroos stays or goes. This case shows that Bayern have learned their lesson after having sold Hummels to Dortmund five years ago for the cheap amount of €5 million without the option to buy him back. This won’t happen again with Can, but in the end Guardiola will decide if he wants him in 2015 or not.

Liverpool

The Reds would get a quality versatile player for the multiple challenges of the Premier League and the Champions League. They would have to spend €12 million now and would have to accept it, if Bayern wanted to buy him back after one year for only €5 million, a big risk. However, if he plays a convincing role at Anfield and the team proceeds in the Champions League also because of his help, it might be worth spending the extra €7 million on him. Maybe after the season Can wants to stay at Liverpool or Guardiola doesn’t want him back and then the Reds will have him for a longer time. If they don’t go for him now, they will probably lose this vague chance.

Emre Can said that he wanted to take a decision within the next three weeks. As a young and ambitious player, who knows about his qualities, he will want to play for a European top team. If Guardiola can promise him that he will play a major role under the Spaniard, he will probably stay at Leverkusen and then will go back to Bayern next year.

But if Rodgers gives him the impression that Liverpool wants him more than Bayern and that they really want to make him an essential part of their team, then he might consider joining the Reds now. At the end moving to Liverpool could be the safer option for his career plan, as he doesn’t know if Guardiola won’t bring in one or two new players for his position at Bayern. Really not an easy decision for the 20-year old midfielder.

Robert Schuller

Robert Schuller is a native German who has always been passionate about football. Unfortunately his talent couldn't quite keep up with his passion which is why he never played for another team than the TSV Neubiberg in the suburbs of Munich. He currently lives in Mexico and works there as an English and Sociology teacher at a university. Apart from that he is also working on his Mexican football coaching licence to become the coach of his favourite Mexican team Pumas one day. While waiting for their phone call, he will share his deep insight on German and Latin American football with you here on HITC.